“For the Holy Spirit will teach you at that moment what you should say.”
Twice in today’s Gospel passage, God the Holy Spirit is referred to. The first mention is somewhat ambiguous in meaning: in its plainest sense, “blaspheming against the Holy Spirit” would refer to denying that the Holy Spirit is truly and fully God. The Church has had to combat such denial throughout her history.
The second mention of the Holy Spirit refers to a situation that many Christians face at some point in their lives. Whether at the point of death or with the fear of mere embarrassment, Christians at a loss as to how to defend their Faith must rely on the Holy Spirit. Even the most brilliant Christian orator or preacher (St. Augustine of Hippo being a prime example) knows that human brilliance in any measure is dwarfed by, and comes from, the Wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
However, the Holy Spirit teaching the Christian what to say does not mean that the Christian becomes a puppet or megaphone of the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit who teaches at that moment, but it’s still the Christian who must speak in his own name about the Holy Name of Jesus, making the Good News his own.
“Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna ….”
In the secular culture that surrounds modern Western man, the idea that Jesus makes moral demands, or sets moral boundaries, is anathema. How, then, can today’s Gospel passage be understood? Jesus declares: “I shall show you whom to fear. Be afraid of the one who after killing has the power to cast into Gehenna; yes, I tell you, be afraid of that one.”
Still, just three sentences later Jesus demands: “Do not be afraid.” There seems to be a contradiction, inasmuch as Jesus tells us to be afraid, and then not to be afraid.
In fact, Jesus here insists that we have a fully-rounded, rather than two-dimensional, view of God. We may consider Jesus to be speaking of God the Father, or of Himself, when He describes whom one should fear. As God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit condemn the one who persists in mortal sin. Fear of God, the Just Judge, however, is a fear that helps us shape our lives.
This is a “holy fear”, upon which we need especially to meditate on this day of the week when Jesus His Passion and Death. This holy fear gives direction to our days on this earth and to each day’s choices. But guided by this holy fear, we can trust in the God who guides us away from sin, and to Himself.
CCC 1897-1917: participation in the social sphere CCC 2238-2244: duties of citizens
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The last sentence of today’s Gospel Reading is well-known. “Repay to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and to God what belongs to God.” Jesus’ reply to the malicious, hypocritical disciples of the Pharisees is effective in shooing them away, as the verse following today’s passage reveals. But Jesus’ rhetorical skills aren’t the point of this passage. His reply leaves an implied question unanswered: “What exactly belongs to Caesar, and what belongs to God?”
Some might reply, “Everything belongs to God!” But the context of today’s Gospel passage suggests otherwise, with Jesus implying that the coin does indeed belong to Caesar. This doesn’t contradict the plain truth that every good thing ultimately comes from God. But the fact that something comes from God doesn’t mean that it belongs to God. God has reasons for entrusting things over to others.
But is the coin one of these good things? If the coin belongs to Caesar, perhaps Jesus is admitting this because it’s bad? In the last sentence of the passage, is Jesus simply making a distinction between bad and good, or between the things of earth and the things of Heaven? If so, then why didn’t He encourage His disciples to flee from society and everything associated with it, including “filthy lucre”, as some call it?
Jesus’ actions in this and other Gospel passages show that He does not condemn money or its use per se. Money is in itself a good, and it belongs to the government that mints it or prints it. Money is an agency of human government, and it’s within this context that we can see its role.
Governments are formed by human beings who use right reason to organize their relationships with neighbors both near and far. As such, the idea of government comes from God, since God by His creative and sustaining power governs the whole universe. In human government, money is a useful part of governing our relationships with neighbors.
Returning to today’s Gospel passage, what is Jesus really commanding? What belongs to Caesar and what belongs to God? If one wants faithfully to follow Jesus, to what extent should one’s life be bound up with the things of this world? A clue is offered by today’s Responsorial.
In Psalm 96 the Psalmist weaves references to the “nations”—a word which appears once in each of the four verses of today’s Responsorial—amongst references to “the Lord”. For example, Psalm 96:5 proclaims that “all the gods of the nations are things of nought, but the Lord made the heavens.” The contrast between the nations and the Lord anticipates the contrast between Caesar and God. Focus, then, on how the Psalmist answers the question of what belongs to the Lord.
“Give the Lord glory and honor.” Here the Psalmist gives an example of what belongs to God: not money, but glory and honor. Reflecting on this, we see a difference in what “belongs” to Caesar or any other man, and what “belongs” to God. What belongs to the Lord is His by His very divine nature. It cannot possibly be taken from Him, yet He shares it with us so that we might return it to Him, and rejoice in doing so.
By contrast are things that “belong” to human beings. They’re of several different types. First, we might consider those things that belong to someone by human nature: intelligence, will, body and soul. Second, we might consider those things that belong to someone personally: one’s ancestry and parentage, nationality, race and religion. However, when most of us think of what “belongs” to us, we’re considering a third set of things, which are far less important: things that can be taken away from us, such as money or possessions. These belong to us in the least certain manner, and yet many of us count them as the most dear.
The money and possessions in our lives belong to us so that we may love our neighbor with them and through them. When I think of them as belonging to me in an enduring way, or as a means for loving myself, they become those “things of nought” that the Psalmist speaks of: “idols”, as another translation puts it. Love your God by giving Him the glory and honor that is His, and love your neighbors by using your belongings for their benefit rather than your own.
The Tribute Money by Peter Paul Rubens (1577-1640)
“Yes, I tell you, this generation will be charged with their blood!”
On the occasions when Jesus refers to persons from the Old Testament, it’s usually Moses or Abraham of whom He speaks. Today’s Gospel passage, though, is the only time that Jesus refers to Abel (along with the parallel passage in Matthew 23:34).
What’s intriguing about Jesus’ reference to Abel is that He speaks about him in relation to the Old Testament prophets. Jesus speaks about “the blood of all the prophets shed since the foundation of the world”. Clearly Jesus doesn’t agree with those modern scholars who consider the first generations of mankind in Genesis to be literary creations. After all, why would Jesus’ own generation, as He declares, be charged with the blood of a fictional character?
Regardless, we need to reflect on why Jesus included Abel among the prophets. Certainly, like the prophets, Abel was murdered for professing his belief in God. But his profession was not made verbally, as prophets usually proclaim their prophecies. In the fourth chapter of Genesis, we hear that Abel “brought to the Lord an offering… of the firstlings of his flock and of their fat portions. And the Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but for Cain and his offering He had no regard” [Gn 4:3,4-5].
It might seem cavalier to say that Cain and Abel were engaged in the first of mankind’s “liturgy wars”. Nonetheless, Jesus pointing our attention to the prophetic nature of right worship reminds us of the need for “orthodoxy” within the Mystical Body of Christ.
“You pay tithes … but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.”
If the scholar of the Law who interrupted Jesus’ lambasting of the Pharisees thought he would earn an apology from Jesus, he quickly realized otherwise. Contrary to modern notions of Jesus as a sort of “spiritual teddy bear”, today’s Gospel passage splashes cold water on our souls, forcing us to ask whether Jesus might speak of us in a similar manner.
However, in addition to the sober fact of Jesus’ forthright willingness to condemn those deserving condemnation, we could consider in turn each of the “woes” that Jesus articulates today. Here consider just the first.
“You pay tithes… but you pay no attention to judgment and to love for God.” All three of these objects of religion—tithes, judgment, and love—are due to God from human persons. They “belong” to God, we might say, each in its own manner. Why might it be that the Pharisees are willing to give the first, but not the latter two?
There certainly is a hierarchy among the three. “Love for God” is due God because “God is love”. Judgment is due God in that only He—all-loving and all-knowing—can judge truly. Tithing of materials goods such as “of mint and of rue and of every garden herb” is due God because He is the Lord of creation. Nonetheless, the ascent to God in the practice of religion involves the ascent of a staircase with many steps. The tithing of material goods is one of the lower steps, and the Pharisees are content to rest there. This step is meant to lead us further upwards: closer to God, towards a higher share in God’s divine nature.
For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.
We tend, at weekday Masses, to hear a continuous reading from day to day of whichever book of the Bible is being read for the First Reading. However, what happens at the beginning of today’s First Reading is unusual. The first verse of today’s reading was the last verse of yesterday’s First Reading. This repetition underscores the significance of this verse’s message. “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.”
Freedom, we might say, is the whole point of faith in Jesus Christ. Without Christ, we are slaves: to sin, and to our fallen selves. In Christ, we are free to live eternally. In Christ, we find the Love who is God Himself, and the love that strengthens us for service of God and neighbor.
During the month of October, the month of Our Lady’s Rosary, the Church also focuses on the dignity of human life. Part of this focus is upon the need for laws to be passed to protect human life. While we need laws that reflect the mind of God, we have to be honest about the fact that laws do not change the minds and hearts of lawbreakers. Laws can make good fences, but they cannot make good people. That why the fostering of virtue is needed, and there’s no greater source of virtue than God’s grace.
In today’s First Reading from St. Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, the Apostle to the Gentiles uses a very direct allegory. Abraham begat one son by a free woman, and another son by a slave woman. St. Paul sees the slave son as an allegory for those held bound by the Law, while the free son is an allegory for those who share in the freedom of Christ.
In the last line, St. Paul uses this allegory for a practical purpose. “For freedom Christ set us free; so stand firm and do not submit again to the yoke of slavery.” Many first-century Christians had begun their lives as Jews under the Law, but had converted their lives to Christ as adults as the Church began to grow. They had personally lived under the Law, and St. Paul is urging them not to regress back to living under the burden of the Law, which is a yoke of slavery.
For us Christians in the twenty-first century, we are like the Galatians in that we experience temptations to live under the law. Of course, there are many civil and church laws that we are bound to, under the threat of just penalties. The freedom of Christ doesn’t abolish the need for law. But St. Paul exhorts us not to believe in law of any sort. That is to say, no law can make someone a better person. Law can only indicate when someone has acted outside the boundary of what is good. Law merely defines wrong-doing. Only grace, a share in the life of God, can make someone a better person.
“Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
In the Catholic Church, Saturday is a “little day” devoted to Our Blessed Mother Mary. It is little because liturgically, the day only runs until mid-afternoon (some would specify this as 4:00 p.m.). From that point on, the day is celebrated liturgically as the vigil of Sunday.
This “little day” is traditionally devoted to Our Lady because as Jesus came to us from Mary, so Sunday follows on this brief span of time. Even in a parish, Saturday mornings and early afternoons are quieter than the rest of the week (unless, of course, a funeral or wedding is celebrated). Even on a quiet Saturday, though, there’s work to be done behind the scenes in preparation for the Lord’s Day, as our Lady worked quietly to prepare for her Son, and to minister to Him during His public ministry.
Today’s Gospel passage is fittingly short, then: only two verses long. A woman from the crowd honors Mary without naming her. Jesus then seems to cast aside the honor accorded His mother. In fact, however, He’s describing Mary, and so is pointing out to us our need to be like her: “blessed are those who hear the word of God and observe it.”
We’re familiar with the Third Commandment: “Keep holy the Lord’s Day.” This commandment binds us under pain of mortal sin. It lies at the heart of what it means to be a Christian. Nonetheless, each of us needs to “keep hallowed Our Lady’s Day”. This is not a command that binds under pain of sin, and while the Third Commandment lies at the heart of what it means to be a Christian, the counsel to “keep hallowed Our Lady’s Day” lies at the heart of what it means to grow as a Christian.
No one can grow closer to Jesus, and no one can live his or her life in Christ, without honoring Jesus’ Blessed Mother. While the Third Commandment binds under pain of mortal sin, devotion to Our Lady’s Day binds under pain of lukewarmness in the Christian life. Make certain in your life to enkindle, nurture, and foster devotion to Our Blessed Mother each and every Saturday morning and afternoon.
Friday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time Luke 11:15-26
“And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”
Jesus’ question in today’s Gospel passage might seem a simple one, but it deserves sustained reflection. “And if Satan is divided against himself, how will his kingdom stand?”
Satan in some sense is the leader of the fallen angels. Satan and all the fallen angels are intelligent creatures. Fictional works such as C. S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters suggest how the fallen angels use reason and logic to further their evil aims. Certainly history shows how the fallen angels, and those fallen human persons who give themselves over to evil, can accomplish great harm through organized, intelligent efforts.
Nonetheless, we ought to keep in mind that evil in the end always works against the Truth, even if it twists particular truths towards its aims. Likewise, the soul of a fallen human person, like the spirit of a fallen angel, causes division by his sins: both within his own soul, and among those around him.
Reflections on the Sacred Liturgy 